What is a worldwide patent application and how much does it cost? 877-728-7763 - The Patent Professor

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So our next question comes from Evelyn on the same topic of funding. Evelyn wants to know, how much is a worldwide pattern?

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First of all, it's a bit of a trick question, but I'll, but I think you're on the right track in that. There is not one worldwide patent. But there are a couple of treaties that allow inventors to protect their ideas internationally. And the one I'm going to talk about this is probably the most useful. It's called the abbreviated the PCT. And when he saw write out the full term, it's known as the Patent Cooperation Treaty. And under this treaty, there's about 140 150. It's constantly changing. countries of the world have entered into an agreement, where they permit any signatory countries, any inventors in any of those countries can automatically receive protection in all of the other countries, once they file a patent Cooperation Treaty application. So the way you proceed with this, and anytime you hear the term international patent application, most likely, this is what they are referring to a Patent Cooperation Treaty application. And what you do is you file in one member country, let's say the United States, your first application, and then once you file, you are given a full 12 months to file internationally, and when you file that PCT application in 12 months, it automatically protects your rights in 150. Some countries and I don't know, many say if you have that list available, you can you can post in a number of countries, but essentially, it would be rare to find a country that you have an interest in that is not a member of the PCT Patent Cooperation Treaty. So file your US application, and then it has to be within 12 months within 12 months file an international Patent Cooperation Treaty. Your question was what does it cost to get a worldwide patent? You're probably looking for your PCT application under $10,000. To file now, it doesn't give you a patent in throughout the entire world. What it does is preserve your rights for up to 30 or 31 months after your initial filing. So for a lot of inventors that provides them with that needed breathing room to get your idea protected. And then you have 30 to 31 months to start. Send finding applications in each of the countries and I see Manisha posted a link. That's a full list of all the countries covered by the Patent Cooperation Treaty. So feel free to go there and look up any specific countries have an interest in but hopefully that gives you some idea of what you're looking at. It's not hundreds of 1000s of dollars right off the bat. So for an inventor for under $10,000. Within the first year after filing their US application, they're able to secure rights and freeze their rights in a ton of countries with one payment of towards the PCT application